Are Cognitive States Self-Revealing?

Location: OCHS Library
Speaker: Professor Kisor Kumar Chakrabarty
Date: February 25, 2016
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

According to the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy, a cognitive state reveals its object but not itself and is revealed by another cognitive state.  Other Hindu philosophers of the Advaita Vedanta philosophical school and Prabhakara (8th century), however, hold that a cognitive state reveals both its object and itself.  I shall discuss the nature of consciousness and self-consciousness and reconstruct how the Nyaya can respond to the formidable arguments offered by the Advaita and Prabhakara.